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Blackhawks outlast Bruins in OT

Series tied at two wins apiece

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Chris Kelly #23 of the Boston Bruins is separated from Duncan Keith #2 of the Chicago Blackhawks during the first period in Game Four of the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden on June 19, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts.Jim Rogash/Getty Images

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Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane (88) scores past Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40), of Finland, during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Boston.AP Photo/Charles Krupa

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Viktor Stalberg #25 of the Chicago Blackhawks and Adam McQuaid #54 of the Boston Bruins fight in the first period in Game Four of the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden on June 19, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts.Jim Rogash/Getty Images

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Viktor Stalberg #25 of the Chicago Blackhawks and Adam McQuaid #54 of the Boston Bruins fight in the first period in Game Four of the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden on June 19, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Harry How/Getty Images

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Jonathan Toews #19 of the Chicago Blackhawks scores a goal against Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins during the second period in Game Four of the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden on June 19, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts.Harry How/Getty Images

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Dennis Seidenberg #44 of the Boston Bruins fights for the puck with Michael Frolik #67 of the Chicago Blackhawks in Game Four of the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden on June 19, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts.Harry How/Getty Images

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Zdeno Chara #33 of the Boston Bruins talks to referee Wes McCauley #4 after a play against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game Four of the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden on June 19, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts.Harry How/Getty Images

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Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville instructs his team during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston Bruins, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Boston.AP Photo/Charles Krupa

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Chicago Blackhawks right wing Marian Hossa (81), of Slovakia, checks Boston Bruins center David Krejci (46), of the Czech Republic, during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Boston.AP Photo/Charles Krupa

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The puck, shot by Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) gets past Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40), of Finland, for a goal during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Boston.AP Photo/Charles Krupa

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Boston Bruins left wing Milan Lucic (17) scores a goal against Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) as defenseman Johnny Oduya (27) and defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson (4) look on during the second period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Boston.AP Photo/Charles Krupa

BOSTON — For 60 minutes it felt like this thing was spinning out of control, whirling into space and back again, an elastic band that kept snapping back.

There had been 10 goals scored in the first two games, 12 for the series, and everything had been tight. Triple overtime, overtime, suffocation. We knew how these teams played.

Then in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final the wheels came off and nothing was safe — no lead, nothing.

Four times the Chicago Blackhawks took a lead, four times the Boston Bruins erased it. 1-0, 3-1, 4-2, 5-4 — none of them lasted.

But after all the fireworks and pinwheeling we came back to a familiar place: Overtime, for the third time in the series. Overtime, again.

And there, the Blackhawks avoided a few dangerous places before they took their fifth and final lead of the night when a Brent Seabrook point shot whistled clean past Tuukka Rask at 9:51 for a 6-5 win to knot the series 2-2, heading back to Chicago.

After being shut out 2-0 in Game 3, the Blackhawks reunited Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, with Marian Hossa on the second line, back from the mysterious upper-body injury that sidelined him in Game 3.

Without Hossa, Chicago was chewed up by the Bruins, stuffed in a sack and thrown in the trunk.

Well, that was then.

Sure, the beginning looked an awful lot like Game 2, only in miniature. The Blackhawks carried the puck to Boston and Chicago’s Michal Handzus reached deep into his 36-year-old legs to deflect a pass from Brandon Saad for Chicago’s first goal in 129:14, or since Patrick Sharp scored at the 11:22 mark in the first period of Game 2. It came short-handed, too.

On Boston’s next power play, Saad had a chance to clear the puck between the faceoff circles and slipped on a frozen banana peel, spilling the puck right to Rich Peverley, who beat Corey Crawford glove side to make it 1-1.

Early Chicago push, late Boston rally, even game. OK, then.

Then came the second period and the ride. It was a neutral zone slosh until Toews scored his second goal of the playoffs, tipping in a Michal Rozsival point shot with Zdeno Chara on the other side of the crease after falling down. It was 2-1 Chicago and away they went.

Three minutes later, Rask had already been forced to stop a Sharp breakaway when a Bryan Bickell rebound bounced straight to Kane and he scored his first goal of the series, too.

And it was strange territory for Boston.

The Bruins hadn’t trailed by two goals since Phil Kessel scored to make it 3-1 2:09 into the third period of Game 7 in the first round and had only been behind for 57:43 of the intervening 850:54 before this game began.

So, of course, less than six minutes later, Milan Lucic banged home a Chara rebound and 49 seconds later Chicago’s Marcus Kruger put home his own rebound on yet another high-speed rush, but not until Rask made an impossible toe save first.

Less than two minutes after that, Bergeron scored on a power play — a lazy hook by Kane in the offensive zone — after a Chara shot deflected off the high glass, off the top of the net and onto Bergeron’s stick to make it 4-3.

The scorekeepers couldn’t keep up, which might explain why the goal horn sounded during Boston’s furious period-ending push, when Chris Kelly barely missed an open net. The Bruins came so close that when the horn sounded to end the period, Chicago must have felt like fishermen who got to port ahead of the storm.

Phew. Exhale.

Jaromir Jagr found Bergeron in the slot two minutes into the third and, of course, he eluded Crawford’s glove again. It was tied 4-4 with almost 18 minutes left.

That wasn’t enough, though. Jagr negated a power play with a high stick and Lucic created a hooking call with a giveaway. The Blackhawks scored their first power-play goal of the series, on a Sharp rebound with 8:41 to go.

And that lasted 55 seconds, before a Johnny Boychuk rocket beat Crawford glove side, again, with 7:46 left, and we were back level, if buzzing at a molecular level.

And then we just waited for the tipping point, after everything, until it came.

After graduating from the University of British Columbia, Bruce Arthur joined the Post in 2001 as a sports reporter. After covering the Toronto Raptors, he became the paper's basketball columnist in 2005... read more, its Toronto columnist in 2007, and its national columnist in 2008. His work currently appears across the Postmedia chain three times a week. Arthur was born in Vancouver, is married, and lives in Toronto.View author's profile